With the final numbers now in from across the country, Yale has officially led the nation in potential life-saving marrow donors added to the Be The Match Registry® through the “Get in the Game. Save a Life.” campaign. Yale’s total of new registrants at its drive, named in memory of women’s ice hockey player Mandi Schwartz ’10 (1988-2011), was 843. The second-best total was 581 from the University of Delaware. The “Get in the Game. Save a Life.” campaign included 38 colleges and universities this year.

Seven seniors and one team were honored by the Yale Athletics Department with awards at the annual senior student-athlete reception Saturday afternoon at the Lanman Center in Payne Whitney Gymnasium. The women’s fencing team earned the Brodhead Award for highest team grade point average. Sam Haig (Greenwich, Conn.) of the men’s squash team, Heather May (Newport Beach, Calif.) of the coed and women’s sailing teams and Alyssa Zupon (Basking Ridge, N.J.) of the women’s ice hockey team were the recipients of the Ford Student-Athlete Community Outreach Award. Dakota McCoy (Wexford, Pa.) of the women’s track and field team and Patrick O’Keefe (Pittsford, N.Y.) of the lightweight crew team were the recipients of the Kiphuth Student-Athlete Distinction Award. Lexy Adams (Lancaster, Pa.) of the field hockey team and Collin Bibb (San Antonio, Texas) of the football team were the recipients of the Meyer Humanitarian Award.

Thirty new Bulldogs were added to the football roster as the first full recruiting class of Tony Reno, the Joel E. Smilow ’54 Yale Head Coach, and his staff was announced today. There are 29 student-athletes in the class of 2017 and one newcomer from 2016 among the talented crop coming to New Haven this summer.

Nine Bulldogs from the class of 2013 were awarded membership in the NFF Hampshire Honor Society, which is comprised of football players from all divisions of play who each maintained a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better throughout their college career.

He made 211 tackles in a Yale uniform and will get a chance to show his skills to a National Football League team this spring. Senior linebacker Will McHale (Greenwich, Conn.) has been invited to a New Orleans Saints mini-camp from May 10-12.

Today’s Yale Blue-White Game on the Class of 1954 Field at Yale Bowl was the perfect way to finish off spring practice while raising money for the Warrior-Scholar Program. The Bulldogs enjoyed cool temperatures and put on a great defensive performance in a 7-0 Blue win.

By the time Thursday’s Mandi Schwartz Marrow Donor Registration Drive at Yale took place, the previous four annual drives had already added more than 3,000 people to the Be The Match Registry® and identified at least 17 donor matches for patients with life-threatening illnesses. The three Yale teams that organize the drive each year -- field hockey, football and women’s ice hockey -- had a high standard to live up to in order to keep saving lives at such a rapid pace.

At least 17 life-saving donor matches for patients in need have been found through the Yale athletic department’s annual Mandi Schwartz Marrow Donor Registration Drive during the last four years. This Thursday, the Bulldogs will attempt to add to that total. The drive, which is part of the nationwide “Get in the Game. Save a Life.” campaign for the Be The Match Registry®, will be held Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Commons on the corner of College Street and Grove Street in New Haven. It is open to the general public. Donors that could help save lives are located through a registration process that consists of simple cheek swabs.

Yale’s Blue-White Game is this Saturday at 2 p.m. on the Class of 1954 Field at Yale Bowl, and the Bulldogs hope to finish spring practice with a great performance while raising money for the Warrior-Scholar Program.

In the spring of 2011, during his freshman year at Yale, John Oppenheimer recalls sitting in a meeting with his Yale football teammates in preparation for the team’s annual Mandi Schwartz Marrow Donor Registration Drive at Yale. Oppenheimer had never heard about marrow donation before, but one of the speakers in particular caught his attention that day. Lexy Adams, a Yale field hockey player who had signed up at the 2010 drive, spoke to the group about how she had just donated to a patient with a life-threatening illness in need of a marrow transplant.

With winter workouts coming to a close, the Joel E. Smilow ‘54 Head Coach of Yale Football, Tony Reno, and captain Beau Palin sat down with the media this week for a hot stove gridiron luncheon at Mory’s to talk about the offseason, recruiting and more.

In recognition of the impact her courageous battle with cancer has had on efforts to save lives through marrow donor registration drives, the Yale athletic department will once again hold a drive in memory of women’s ice hockey player Mandi Schwartz ’10 (Wilcox, Sask.) (1988-2011). The Mandi Schwartz Marrow Donor Registration Drive at Yale, which is part of the nationwide “Get in the Game. Save a Life.” campaign for the Be The Match Registry®, will be held on Thursday, Apr. 18 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. this year. The drive, which takes place at Commons on the corner of College Street and Grove Street in New Haven, is open to the general public. Donors that could help save lives are located through testing that consists of simple cheek swabs.

Bulldogs love the cold of the winter, especially when they travel in packs, have plenty of food and drink and can talk about their gridiron glory days with an audience. So on a cold night in New York City, a bunch of them dressed in penguin suits gathered inside the Marriott Marquis Hotel to honor a famous Carm Cozza pupil at the 2013 Ivy Football Association Dinner.

Tyler Varga (Kitchener, Ont.) added another accolade to his first NCAA football season when The Sports Network named him to its 2012 FCS All-America Team. The sophomore running back and return man earned second-team honors as an “all-purpose” player.

Missing two important league games and playing just eight of a 10-game overall schedule makes it tough to be considered for post-season honors. Yale sophomore Tyler Varga (Kitchener, Ont.) impressed enough people in those eight games to earn first-team league and New England honors. Today, he added to his 2012 accolades by being named an honorable mention Beyond Sports Network (bsncollege.com) FCS All-American.

Calvin Hill ’69, the former collegiate All-American and National Football League All-Pro running back, is Yale’s honoree at the 2013 Ivy Football Association (IFA) Dinner on Feb. 7 in the Broadway Ballroom of the New York Marriott Marquis.

Running Back Tyler Varga (Kitchner, Ont.) added to his 2012 honors by being named first-team All-New England today. The Yale sophomore, who leads the FCS in all-purpose yards, had already earned first-team All-Ivy League status and was named the Bulldogs’ team MVP.

Tyler Varga (Kitchner, Ont.), the Football Subdivision Championship leader in all-purpose yardage who was named team most valuable player last night, was named 2012 first-team All-Ivy League. The candidate for Ivy player of the year and All-America honors is one of six Yale players to earn all-league honors.

Beau Palin, who started every game this fall at defensive end, has been named captain of the 2013 Yale Football Team. A team vote in the hotel the night before the season finale made Palin the first Wisconsin native to take the storied program’s top leadership position.

Sophomore receiver Grant Wallace (St. Louis, Mo.) had his best day as a Yale football player in the season finale at Harvard last Saturday. His 11 catches and 118 yards weren’t quite enough to get the Bulldogs the victory, but it did earn him one of the Ivy League Players of the Week awards from collegefootballperformance.com.

Slightly more than 48 hours removed from an emotional end to the 2012 season, the Yale football team gathered at Commons Monday night for the team’s annual banquet. This was the first under Tony Reno as Yale’s Joel E. Smilow ’54 Head Coach of Football, and while much of the night was dedicated to the graduating seniors there was also clearly an air of optimism in looking forward to next year. The progress the Bulldogs made under the new coaching staff had just been illustrated by a hard-fought battle with the heavily favored Crimson in the 119th edition of The Game; Yale led until two late touchdowns gave Harvard a 34-24 win.

Its Ivy League title hopes were dashed in week seven, but the Yale football team doesn’t need motivation for the season finale. A senior class with just one opponent yet to beat isn’t what drives the Bulldogs this week. The rivalry known as The Game is all that really matters as Yale and Harvard get set for the 129th edition at noon on Saturday at Harvard Stadium. One of the most revered traditions in sports can be seen live on NBC Sports Network and heard on WELI Radio (AM-960, weli.com) and student radio station wybcx.com.

The 129th edition of The Game Saturday afternoon at Harvard Stadium wound up coming down to the final minutes, something that would have surprised anyone who just looked at the won-lost records of Yale and No. 24 Harvard at the start of the day. Playing the role of underdogs, the Bulldogs took the lead with just 7:07 to play and appeared on the verge of an upset. But Harvard staged one last rally, scoring the go-ahead touchdown with 4:44 left and then putting The Game out of reach with another touchdown with 1:08 remaining to win 34-24.

Some still refer to it as the “Big Three,” others know it as the first of two rival weeks for the Bulldogs with Princeton coming to Yale Bowl this Saturday. Yale’s 2012 home finale, the last opportunity for 23 seniors to sink their cleats into the Class of 1954 Field, is a noon kickoff that can be seen on YES Network and heard on WELI (AM-960, weli.com) and wybcx.com (student).

The Princeton football team was admittedly caught by surprise when the Yale offense, already without its top three quarterbacks, came out without sophomore starting tailback Tyler Varga and managed to put together an early touchdown drive Saturday afternoon at the Yale Bowl, Class of 1954 Field. But the Tigers adjusted, holding the Bulldogs scoreless for the final three quarters as two Yale drives ended with fumbles deep in Princeton territory. And aided by a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown by cornerback Trocon Davis that broke a 7-7 tie late in the second quarter, Princeton was able to score the final 29 points of the game to come away with a 29-7 win.